


In the Empty Office

by Traxits



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Community: fic_promptly, Gardening!, Gen, Oneshot, Original Game Canon Compliant, Secrets, Turk-centric, Turkfic, Wordcount: 100-1.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-21
Updated: 2015-07-21
Packaged: 2018-04-10 10:42:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4388693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Traxits/pseuds/Traxits
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The herbs were almost dead.  Reno leaned against the window sill, studying them.  He couldn't quite figure out <i>why</i> they were almost dead.  The Turks used all their space, and this office, for all that was empty of furniture, still had files they used.  Tseng had sent him in here to find one.  It was the only reason he'd ever noticed the plants.  He reached out, brushing a fingertip against one of the brown leaves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Empty Office

**Author's Note:**

> Original Prompt: Any, Any, tiny herb garden on the windowsill

The herbs were almost dead. Reno leaned against the window sill, studying them. He couldn't quite figure out _why_ they were almost dead. The Turks used all their space, and this office, for all that was empty of furniture, still had files they used. Tseng had sent him in here to find one. It was the only reason he'd ever noticed the plants. He reached out, brushing a fingertip against one of the brown leaves.

He'd forgotten what living plants looked like before he'd moved Above the Plate. Before the Turks had recruited him.

He glanced over his shoulder at the bustle in the bullpen of the office. Then he sighed and let his fingers slide down into the dirt. It was bone dry. Dry as the powdery gray dust that covered the ground Below. He blew out a breath, and it wasn't hard to open the water bottle he'd brought in with him. The water rolled over the dirt right at first. It just rolled and pooled at the edges of the pot, but he didn't let himself worry too much about it. He just poured a fraction more, then stopped.

He checked the plants again the next day. This time, when he poured a little water in the box, it soaked on into the dirt. It looked like the dirt Rude kept in the pots on the balcony.

("For tomatoes," he told Reno, gravely serious. Reno wasn't certain what a 'tomato' was. He knew what they tasted like, but hell if he could remember ever seeing an actual tomato. He didn't mention that to Rude. He just nodded and shrugged and asked if Rude planned on making him help. Because fuck that. Rude snorted at him. Doubtless, it fell under one of the 'house rules' that Reno wasn't going to like.)

Eventually, the herb garden became something just for Reno. He didn't think anyone else even remembered that it was in the office. He stayed long enough to rearrange boxes one night, and after that, he felt a safer with it. No one could see his pot of herbs when they first opened the door. He didn't think they'd throw them away or anything. They hadn't when the plants had been dying, after all. He just wasn't quite ready to share the plants with anyone.

They were the first living thing that Reno could ever remember actually helping.

He took more interest in the cooking lessons Rude and Tseng both insisted on though. He smelled the herbs and the greenery they used and asked questions about them. Eventually, he determined that he had thyme in the pot. Thyme and rosemary and basil. From what he understood, he might have to replace the basil after it died, else the thyme would spread. He wasn't sure yet if he wanted to. He wasn't sure it mattered.

He just liked getting to sit there on the windowsill. He leaned his head against the glass, a finger stroking over the leaves of something he'd saved. Something he'd grown.

It was satisfying.


End file.
